Chapter Five Ruby #2
It was the kind of thing that kids remembered as they got older, that they wanted to bring their kids back to. I thought of the two little boys with their buckets, searching for minnows in the creek, and it took everything in me to swallow my disappointment.
Lauren gave me a tiny wink. “Not over yet. We’ll raise a lot of money from the fair next week.”
“I know we will.” I conjured a smile, but based on the slight arch to Lo’s eyebrow, it wasn’t a very believable one.
Kenny—one of our college-age employees—popped his head into my office. “Ruby? There’s someone out here asking for you.”
There was a feverish look in his eyes that had me narrowing mine. “Who?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he said gravely.
Lauren brushed past him and looked out into the main area of the library, her mouth falling open. “Is that . . . Griffin King?” she whispered. “Do you know Griffin King?”
Son of a biscuit. My eyes pinched shut, and I took a deep breath. I should’ve known he wouldn’t just go away.
Still seated at my desk, I couldn’t see out into the library, so I stood and glanced through the windows lining the side of my office. When I caught sight of him, a nervous swirling kicked off in my stomach, seeping out through all four limbs, making my fingertips tingle.
It wasn’t even fair.
People shouldn’t look like him and be able to just . . . walk around for anyone to see. This was a library, for crying out loud.
Today, he was wearing a sinfully tight white T-shirt and a black hat turned backward on his head. His long, thick legs were covered in dark joggers that hugged his tree-trunk thighs.
“Sort of,” I hedged. “When I was younger, he and his family lived in the house behind mine.”
Lauren clutched my arm. “Is that . . . is that the Griffin from when you were younger?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes widened. “And you didn’t know he was Griffin King?”
I held my hands up helplessly. “I don’t watch TV. I hate social media.”
My explanations must not have impressed her, because she continued to stare at me like I’d personally injured her. “That’s who you saw before the hooker showed up?”
Kenny’s eyes widened. “The what?”
I pinched Lauren’s side, and she winced. “There were no hookers,” I said firmly. “Ignore her, please.”
Based on the look on Kenny’s face, he was fairly unconvinced he could manage that. “Eh, what do you want me to tell him?”
I ran a hand through my hair, sighing heavily. “I’ll handle him.”
“Oh, please do,” Lauren breathed. “I’d handle him so hard if he were here for me.”
Crossing my arms, I turned and pinned her with a thoroughly unamused look. “Don’t you have something to do, Lo?”
“Not that’s more important than this.”
“Go. Shoo,” I told her, pushing her down the hallway. “There’s a cart of books that need to be shelved.”
As she walked away, she muttered underneath her breath about how I was the worst boss in the world. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took a moment to try to steady my breathing.
Impossible, but worth a try at least.
My pulse was racing, and I wondered if it would echo through the quiet space when I joined him. Griffin had his hands tucked into his pockets, studying one of the displays in the middle of the room. I’d worked on it a few days earlier, highlighting some spicy summer reads.
And now he was standing in front of them, reaching to pick up the one on the top of a pile.
His lips hooked up in a smirk as he read the back cover.
That book was about a priest and his very forbidden love affair with a young woman, and I had to tear my eyes away before I lost the nerve to walk up to him.
From everything I’d found, Griffin was an actual, legitimate celebrity. Famous for his feud with his brother, for his talent on the field, and even more than that, for his string of casual relationships off the field.
He’d dated models and actresses, a couple of singers. All stunningly beautiful, none of them around for very long.
With a tight jaw, I looked down at the blouse that buttoned up to the bottom of my throat, with a lace collar that I’d always liked. The pencil skirt was probably half a size too big, but that never really bothered me too much.
I wasn’t curvy, and I wasn’t beautiful. I was just me.
And even if I was okay with that, it was still hard to wrap my mind around someone like him showing up for someone like me.
Maybe I was on the small side of a B cup and I didn’t have the kind of curves that men tripped over, but I was smart and kind and friendly.
Sort of. Once you got to know me.
It felt insane to have any type of interaction with him—didn’t matter if it was casual or friendly.
There was a hierarchy of people in the world, whether we wanted to admit it or not.
Like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, except that three-sided figure represented the mental structure of how each person viewed the world.
That ranking system looked different to every person.
Some placed tech giants and billionaires at the top; others, esteemed politicians or activists.
Some worshipped people like Griffin—uniquely talented in something physical, a sport that gathered millions around a field or a television every week to cheer for something larger than themselves.
My own pyramid was a little different. I revered the thinkers and the doers, the people who made a direct impact on their world, even if it was done quietly, with a spine of steel. But no matter whose hierarchy we were looking at, my own place likely came well beneath his, and we both knew it.
My hand toyed with the button under the lace, and I felt myself tug all that heavy armor into place. When I was a teenager, my dad always used to say I was like a feral cat, swiping at anyone who tried to help but melting when the right person came along.
There’d be no melting for Griffin, so I blew out a harsh breath, notched my chin up, and marched toward him.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
He took his sweet-ass time setting the book down, and when he did, there was a teasing glint in his eye that made me instantly wary.
“Good morning, Ruby.” His gaze tracked down the front of my body and settled back on my face a moment later. “You look lovely in that color.”
This wasn’t fair. A simple compliment, and the skin on my upper body was now registering a thousand degrees.
And he did it with a twinkle in his eyes and a grin hovering on the edges of his perfect mouth.
Ass.
“You have to leave.”
The words came out with only the slightest tinge of panic, because something about Griffin made me feel very, very panicky, indeed. Like if I stayed around him too long, all the edges of my carefully constructed world would start peeling away.
And I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to see what was underneath.
With unhurried strides, he walked around the table, picking up a fantasy novel I hadn’t had a chance to read yet. “Now, that is not the friendliest greeting, is it? I’ve been up since dawn waiting for the library to open.”
I plucked the book from his hand. “You have not.”
Griffin ignored me, selecting a cowboy romance with a gorgeous red cover. He flipped through some of the pages, eyebrows popping high at whatever he saw. His eyes flicked to mine. “You read all these books, birdy?”
My cheeks felt hot, but I held his gaze. “Not all of them, but some. It’s part of the job to know what people are looking for, and right now, they want spicy romance.”
“I think I might check this one out,” he said, holding the book up. “Not much of a reader, but I could make an exception.”
Holding his gaze, I pointed at the cover. “You want to read that book?”
“Oh yeah,” he answered in a rumbling voice that I felt down to my toes. “Imagine all the things I could learn.”
With a tiny wink, he tucked the book under his arm and ambled off toward the stacks in the back of the library, whistling low and quiet. Mouth agape, I watched him go. Lauren waved her arms frantically, and when I cut her a look, she mouthed, What are you doing, go!
Narrowing my eyes in a fierce glare did nothing to my friend, because she simply jabbed her finger in the air in Griffin’s general direction.
The man in question paused and glanced over his shoulder. “You need to come with me, otherwise I’ll be wandering aimlessly for hours. Unless you’d like to see my face around every corner. For your entire day.”
When I leveled my glare in his direction, his smile simply grew, a deep, enticing dimple appearing in the dark stubble on his knife-sharp jaw.
What an ass.
“No.” I crossed my arms. “You are perfectly capable of finding books on your own.”
Behind me, Lauren hissed my name, but I ignored her.
I mean . . . fine, I was being a little snippy, but I couldn’t help it.
This was exactly the way he was as a kid too. Nosy and pushy and always teasing me.
He glanced around the building, eyes narrowed in thought. “You got any picture books on how to get better at football? I bet my new coach would be happy if I started reading one of those.”
The way my brow furrowed, I just knew I was popping some new wrinkles, courtesy of this freaking man. “You have a new coach?”
He hummed. “Just transferred to Denver. Signing the contract any day now. That’s why I couldn’t come visit until today, because my agent and I had to hammer out a few last details. Did I not mention that?”
Tha-thunk.
That was the sound of my heart dropping into the pit of my stomach.
“You did not,” I said faintly. Oh God, he’d practically be local.
Okay, fine. Not local. But within driving distance.
Freaking great.
“Five minutes,” I told him. “You have me for five minutes, and then I need to get back to work.”
“No, she doesn’t. Her schedule’s wide open,” Lauren called out. Kenny’s eyes widened. Someone from the other side of the library shushed her.
“See, now that’s helpful,” Griffin pointed out. “Thank you . . .”
“Lauren,” she supplied graciously.
I rolled my eyes at the simpering smile on her face. Kenny looked like he was gonna pass out.
Griffin smiled oh so charmingly. “Lauren. You are a gem.” Then he locked his gaze on mine and spread his arm out. “After you. I am your humble student, Miss Tate.”
I was definitely going to punch him before this was over.